riding on the coat tails

I'm just jealous that a certain other blogger got to this lovely lothario before me. So I just wanted to add my favourite photo of him. If only he liked the girls.

Rufus Wainwright

I am very much liking this trend we have created here of posting photos of wonderfully attractive young musicians, not widely known for their compositional skillz, then having an AHA! BLAM! KAPOW! moment of revelation, proving, with references to Wikipedia, that they, interestingly enough, WROTE AN ENTIRE SERIES OF 14 SYMPHONIES ALL BASED AROUND A SINGLE, PARTICULARLY DISSONANT INTERVAL AND ARE IN FACT A GENIUS, BETTER THAN BACH, BEETHOVEN AND MOZART COMBINED.

So, with that in mind I give you... Rufus Wainwright.

"What??" ("What??" with TWO question marks!) I hear you cry! "But he is just a wonderful and attractive singer/songwriter who does fantastic renditions of Judy Garland songs!"
AHA! BLAM! KAPOW!
Not ONLY does he do all of these things. HE ALSO WROTE AN OPERA. WITH THE LIBRETTO ENTIRELY IN FRENCH! FRENCH!!!! Which he actually co-wrote. None of this "I'm just going to take someone else's play and make it musical" - I'm looking at you Verdi.

Oh if he wasn't gay, IF HE WASN'T GAY....the things I would do to him...
LOL

Jonny Greenwood

Hello, and Welcome to Indie Town. Population: You.

This is Jonny Greenwood. For those poor uniformed souls who are lacking a bit of indie music in their lives (I'm looking at you Gnus), Jonny plays (primarily) guitar in Radiohead and is kinda sorta a prodigy. In fact, Wikipedia informs me that he plays guitar, keyboard, viola, xylophone, glockenspiel, ondes martenot (????? halp plz), banjo, harmonica and drums fluently. FLUENTLY.
And yes, I hear you yelling at me in your screechy music geek voices that this does not a composer make. BUT WAIT!!!! THERE IS MORE!!!
Yep, I keep you guessing. Anyway, he is also the composer in residence of the BBC Concert Orchestra, as well as composing the entire soundtrack for "There Will Be Blood".
Incidentally, he fulfills a certain role in Radiohead that Thom Yorke does not: Pretty. Jonny Greenwood is very pretty.
And for all of Thom's amazing super pro ace skillz, I would still probably not tap that, to be honest.

xx

P.S. CHECK THAT HAIR FLICKING.

Arnold Schoenberg

Alright, so our beloved Arnie "Twelve Tone" Schoenberg is actually in no way a babe.

However, I could not live with myself if I didn't share this photo, stolen most gratefully from Celebrities Playing Table Tennis, an excellent page in dire need of someone who can make things look pretty.

Cécile Chaminade

Probably best known for her run-tastic Concertino for flute - typical French composer: lures you into a false sense of security with a pretty, achievable melody then BAM SEMIQUAVER SEPTUPLETS! - Cécile represents the vast majority of under-appreciated lady composers.

Even though almost all of her nearly 400 compositions were published, her profile actually took a dive throughout the 20th century, as everyone went nuts for modernism and dismissed late-Romantic French music (but it's so pretty!). According to The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers (that's right, I own this book), Cécile's fall from the popular table is also due to the socio-aesthetic conditions affecting women and their music.

AND THEY'D KNOW.


I also particularly like her range: she can do haughty AND ennui-filled.

Edgard Varèse

My, oh my, am I on a role with the awesome haired men today. Piercing eyes, a mane of hair and the "Father of Electronic Music", there's not much there that's NOT good. (Zappa was a fan of his too. Go him.)

Ignacy Paderewski

This crazy-haired Polish dude somehow managed to be fairly attractive, a really really good composer, and the third Prime Minister of Poland. He was totally one of the guys who signed the Treaty of Versailles. (Yeah! take that Beethoven! How many wars did HE end?) He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame too. (I think all this success was entirely based on his hair, but then, I could be wrong...)
Not entirely sure why, but apparently after he died, his heart was encased in a bronze sculpture that is now in the 'National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa' somewhere in America. (Does any one find that slightly creepy?) Yeah, and apparently his ghost haunts some Polish building somewhere.

Fun facts aside, I think he was a nice looking guy. Oh and did i mention the SWEET MO!?

Philip Glass

Alright, so he's kind of a bit of a grouch. And that face says "are you seriously still making jokes about Bach killing kittens? How old are you, four?"

However, imagine doing something to make that craggy old face smile. Or even LAUGH. Not in a gross way, creeps, just maybe you called it hocket when he had the hiccups and all of a sudden he realised he was in love with you. In that kind of way.

Joseph Schuster

So, it's been a quiet afternoon here at the workplace. Taking advantage of the fact that I work in a music type place, I decided to raid the Groves.

After a disappointing rendezvous with the term "Schusterfleck", I stumbled upon Joseph Schuster. Sure, he might not give you an immediate POW!, but give him time, he'll totally grow on you. He'd get you home on time, bring you corsages and probably build you a piano or something. And look totally pretty doing lots of whistful glances and shizz.

A generational comparison.

Johann Strauss I:


Johann Strauss II:


Johann Strauss III:


And unrelated (but he has the same last name so there's got to be SOME connection, right?...right??)
Richard Strauss


I think I like number 2 the best, aside from his wondrous moustache (which only gets better with age...) he's wearing TWO jackets and a bowtie. Now that's a man if ever I saw one.
Although, speaking of manliness, Number 1 has a bit of a pout thing going on....and number 3 has an almost Dali-esque look with his Mo, and that wicked stripy high necked shirt...Oh! I can't choose.
Richard kind of missed out on the awesome Strauss attractive gene I'm thinking, but that may have something to do with not actually being related. So I suppose he can't be blamed.

Sorry, Eric, I forgot you for a while.

Eric Whitacre.
I'd forgotten about him until my wise friend inquired as to where he was on this blog? HE WAS NOT HERE. I had failed you up until now.
Anyway. Eric Whitacre. American composer who wanted to be a rockstar until one day he attended a choral performance and had a Music Epiphany (TM), deciding to become a composer.
AND WHAT A COMPOSER.
A favourite with high school-aged bands all over the place (and I assume others as well, whatever)if you've heard "Ghost Train" or "Sleep" or "October" or "Godzilla Eats Las Vegas" you will understand how completely awesome he is. Download the choral version of "Sleep" - you will not be disappointed.
He also happens to be a mega babe. WHAT A HOTTIE. Check out that chiseled jaw, that lush chin-length hair, that manly stubble... be still my beating heart.
Excuse me.
xx

Vincent d'Indy

Despite looking more like John Cleese in his later years, and marrying his cousin, Frenchman Vincent d'Indy was nevertheless the very picture of romanticism in his youth

Yann Tiersen

Yann Tiersen - he wrote the soundtrack to Amelie, his website has a video of him tooling about on a motorbike sort thing, he has Chris Martin eyes and a very tasteful beard. Good work him.

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

When he wasn't writing mad hard music about bumblebees, or teaching Stravinsky and Prokofiev and refusing to play their compositions if they submitted them in pencil... "I do not wish to go blind because of you!" (picky bastard), he was being attractive with side part and killer pout.

Sarah Blasko

AHA!

I hear you say.

Or whatever is the totes cool interweb equivalent.

MusicJuice has lost it! She is breaking her own totalitarian decrees!

Sarah Blasko, whilst being a babe and rather wonderful maker of very interesting and often lovely music (as well as having a terrific dance style), is NOT A COMPOSER.

AHA!

I hear me say.

WE'RE BOTH RIGHT.

Kind of.

I get to post the lovely Ms Blasko today because she actually composed the score for the recent Bell Shakespeare production of Hamlet, as well as appearing as a singer in the travelling band of musicians during the play.

HURRAH.

Johannes Brahms

See, THIS is how you find a babe in classical music. (none of this wishy-washy "leftovers" stuff...)


Brahms, other than writing lovely lovely music, seemed like a pretty nice guy too. He hung out with Clara Schumann when her husband was all "Im in an insane asylum..."and (according to wikipedia, which I know is not a scholarly source but REALLY, life doesn't revolve around academic writing I'm not going to bloody footnote everything to university standards, end rant:) he often brought penny candy with him to hand out to children when he went walking in the woods.

Also his favourite pub in Vienna was called the "Red Hedgehog." Now there's a man of taste.

Leftovers

I was scared I wouldn't find anything tonight, and got terribly worried, and so found these stop gaps, who aren't really babealicious enough for their own posts, but make quite a nice package deal.


Giuseppe Gariboldi - good mo, isn't wearing a zip up jumper with a tie. There's two ticks. I'm also quite enjoying his hair.

Aside from having the most awesome name since Johann Joseph Fux, Benoit-Tranquille Berbiguier seems like the lovely forgotten one in a Jane Austen novel - you know, a Weatherby or someone. Once all the flashy ones have gone away, they're the ones left - possibly not terribly passionate, but THERE.

Marin Marais - nothing special really, except you know what they say about men with large gamba...they develop back problems but have a really nice tone.

Niccolo Paganini

I was concerned. I don't like it when we go a couple of days without a post. Even one day stresses me out a little.

And I was desperate, it seemed like, as in the real world, we were suffering some kind of internet-based man drought - you know what I'm talking about, don't you ladies?

And then I found Niccolo, looking several different types of lovely.

A Paganini for all seasons. That's not a pun, or a joke. It's just an opinion.

Esa Pekka Salonen

Esa Pekka Salonen. The only reason I know this guy is because we studied his version of Bartok's "Concerto for Orchestra" for Music Performance in VCE (for the record, it was a pretty good version).
ANYWAY. But he's a finnish conductor who has some pretty excellent hair flicking action and some relatively toned forearms, and these are essentially my criteria for crushing on someone (and I wish I was joking but NOT EVEN A LITTLE).
Also, he appears to be vaguely reminiscent of Patrick Swayze in the first picture.
And we all love ourselves some Swayze, right?

Peter Maxwell Davies

Ooh now we're getting modern. Also, finding good-looking female composers is a little bit hard. Just putting it out there. Seriously, you try it. Yeah, YOU.

The Mysterious and Enigmatic Spanish Conductor

That's just a little MEMM joke, for all of you playing along at home.

I cannotforthelifeofme find this guy's name. I have followed hyperlinks all over teh interwebz, used Google Translate, THERE'S NOTHING ELSE THAT CAN BE DONE.

And yes, I know he's a conductor, not a composer, but ebrown set a precedent.

Also, because I don't actually know who he is, HE COULD VERY WELL BE THE GREATEST COMPOSER IN THE AFTER MOZART DIVISION.

MEMM jokes really aren't funny, are they?

Tansy Davies

Ok, so someone pointed out that there weren't that many girls on this blog. Which is true - even our male contributors are big on the boys.

So I found Tansy Davies. I know very little about how, except that her website has all sorts of hip new feaures, like an MP3 JUKEBOX, CHILDREN!

Also, I like freckles. And purple hair.

Hector Berlioz

Hector Berlioz - not really a babe, but has excellent hair and cravat, which makes up for lack of babeness.

Ben Martin

It was only a matter of time before someone found an ok photo him. Appaz his composition "Brazil" has been performed world over. Sigh. I might just melt a little...

Max Reger

Yeah! WORK THAT POUT! And that is an epic cravat-like thing. Jealous.

Pietro Mascagni

Ahh, the guy who wrote that thing!! "Cavalleria Rusticana", yeah, that's it. Mmm intermezzo. Don't look him up, he gets a bit pudgy later on in life...

Gustav Mahler

Gustav. Gustav Mahler. A full, lush head of hair. Intense, brooding eyes, recalling the likes of a young Marlon Brando, lamenting 'Stella! Oh! Stella!'.... These days, such laments come from within the deep throes of passion one feels when they spin his record on Classical FM. MAHLER! OOOH! MAHLER! ... and the song isn't too bad either.

George Enescu

I've always had a bit of a thing for male violinists. Helped out, of course, by a certain dreamboat at a certain university. Who shall remain nameless, mainly because I've forgotten his name, but also because that would be AWKWARD.

But he's not in first year, in case anyone's getting any ideas.

Francois Devienne

Francois Devienne - raising the prestige of French wind music - and heartrates - since the late 18th century.

André Jolivet

I am going to have to retract, or at least reconsider my previous "don't google composers, you'll just get ugly old pictures of them" philosophy.

Jolivet totally got more attractive as the years passed him by.

And no, I've never really heard of him either. He wrote flute music, appaz.

Francis Poulenc

N'AAAAAAAAWWWWWWW. nuff said.

Ralph Vaughan Williams

While he DOES have a little of the James Fleet about him, Vaughan Williams est pas mal.

He's got dreamy eyes, rather wonderful hair, and the ever popular skeewif tie.

He even looks alright as an old man! Mainly because of the cat, though...

William Byrd

I was most disappointed to find that William Byrd, despite writing beautiful music, looks rather creepy. His ridiculously pointy beard looks like it's about to strike and stab somebody and his eyes can't be trusted.

However, I feel I should give Willy some credit in this next picture. In comparison to the first, he looks incredibly soft and gentle (I think it's cos of the colour)..But anyway, what a kind-looking soul - any woman (or man's) dream really. I just want to fluff up his hair and ruffle up that beard a little bit.

Scriabin

I'm thinking without the moustache he'd be a bit of a babe.


Oh what the hell, even with the mo. That slightly askew tie is doing things to me...

Jacques Offenbach

Offenbach? More like Offen-gay! No, not really, but have you EVER seen a more comfortable looking man IN A MONOCLE! I didn't think so...